· RUEL SK

94 CRUEL SKY
toward higher ground. At some point I crossed a wide walking path in the forest, heard
men's voices, rapidly went thirty to fifty feet to the side of the path, went flat on my
stomach with my face buried in the leaves. There were three men - middle-aged and older,
talking, with a fox terrier being petted by the man on the right as they walked. They
walked right on by, not even the dog noticing me. I waited cautiously, then moved quietly
in the direction of the foxes. I found a dense thicket which I had to crawl underneath to get
into. But once inside, there was a clear space and I could see the clouds above. I heard the
sounds of low-flying aircraft. Looking up, I saw three Me-l09s pass overhead. Glancing at
my watch, it was not yet 11 o'clock in the morning! It had been an active morning,
especially that last hour.
"1 appraised my condition. I was okay, but seemed to have been burned about the
face. My helmet, goggles, oxygen mask, and the long, white silk scarf 1 wore shielded my
face somewhat, but not entirely. There were little ridges around my eyes. Picking at them,
I realized that they were pieces of melted oxygen mask that had stuck to my skin. 1 had no
mirror, so could only feel cautiously. The burned areas were painful. The area near my
right eye was worse, probably because 1 was slower going into the flight deck by the
fireball than the other way. My eyebrows seemed to have been singed off. Strange,
because I thought the tops of my eyes were covered by helmet and goggles. 1 was very
lucky.
"Actually, I felt quite secure and relaxed. 1 discarded my Mae West and my silk
scarf since they were highly visible items. 1 checked my escape kit ... it had been rifled.
No map! It had some hard candy, some water purification tablets, and a small collapsible
canteen bag to carry water. I had a very sharp pearl-handled penknife that I always carried.
I proceeded to cut up my heated suit and made shoes from it. 1 also had a finger nail file.
"1 planned to walk to Switzerland, sleeping during the day, traveling fast by night. 1
would maintain a southeastward direction by using the stars as 1 had been taught as a Boy
Scout. 1 would try to maintain a four-mile-per-hour pace, and try very hard to find Lake
Constance, find a boat, and cross at night. All of Germany was blacked out. Switzerland
had lights so it was simple to tell the difference, but for now, there was nothing to do but
wait until nightfall. 1 pulled my small Bible from my left shirt pocket to read excerpts from
Psalms (my favorite book in the Bible). It opened to the Psalm 91: The security of the